


After the Battle

by AlphaScorpiixx



Series: Hearts Shaped Like Stars [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, KH3 ending, beach chats, let kairi have more friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27087958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaScorpiixx/pseuds/AlphaScorpiixx
Summary: After the battle, Kairi shares her fears.
Relationships: Kairi & Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Hearts Shaped Like Stars [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970083
Comments: 12
Kudos: 17





	After the Battle

The palm tree had long since gotten uncomfortable, but Kairi stayed in her spot watching the setting sun.

“Hey, Kairi!” Riku called. She moved her head but didn’t turn all the way around. “Terra, Ventus, and I are going to race around the cove. You want to come?”

“No, thanks.” Her voice didn’t tremble, but a weight on her chest made it hard to speak. She looked back out at the sea.

“Okay. Um, Xion and Naminé are gathering seashells, if you wanted to join them.” 

She shrugged in response.

Riku hesitated a moment before turning away. Kairi heard his steps on the bridge before he jumped down to the sand.

The solitude only worsened the tightness in her chest. She wanted to call him back but couldn’t speak through the lump in her throat. She tried to steady her breath, but her lungs wouldn’t cooperate.

She clenched her right hand. A phantom touch lingered on her skin. Almost real enough to clasp the hand on top of hers, but every time she reached out, her fingers curled around empty air.

_ He’s really gone _ . This wasn’t like the year she spent alone on the island, back when her memories of him had been lost. Missing a person she couldn’t remember was a bitter loss, but not as painful as mourning—

_ Stop that. _ She bit the inside of her cheek. It’s not like he was  _ dead. _ Chirithy had explained what happened. Saving so many hearts from a dark fate had cast his own adrift. Lost, but not gone forever.

She heard someone walk across the bridge. Riku, she guessed, returning for another attempt at making her interact with everyone else.

“I said I didn’t want to join,” Kairi said, but he came over to the palm tree anyway. 

“That’s okay,” said someone who definitely wasn’t Riku.

Kairi swung her head to look down at Roxas. He leaned against the trunk and rested his hands behind his head. She turned around, but the beach was empty. The others must’ve gone to the cove, leaving the two of them alone.

“Mind if I join you here?”

“Yeah . . . go ahead.”

Roxas didn’t say anything else, and he seemed content to watch the sunset. The sun was a half disk on the horizon, light rippling over the waves.

Kairi studied the boy next to her. She’d really only been half-listening while Sora tried explaining his heart’s co-habitants. The resemblance to Ventus was obvious in the blond, wind-swept hair. But underneath, his eyes were the same as Sora’s, blue and bright.

She couldn’t wait any longer. “So?”

Roxas glanced up at her. “So what?”

“What does Riku want?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, ask him.”

“You mean . . . he didn’t send you?” Kairi slid down from the trunk so that she was eye level with Roxas. He was the same height as Sora, slightly taller than her.

“Why do you think he sent me? I’m perfectly capable of doing what I want.” His tone was light and playful, but Kairi caught a hard edge underneath. She turned away and clasped her arms around herself.

“I’m sorry, I just thought he wanted you to cheer me up.”

He smiled softly and looked back out at the water. “No, it wasn’t Riku. I came for myself. We’ve never really talked before.”

Kairi blinked. Surely they’d spoken at some point. After the battle in the graveyard? No, she’d spent every moment with Sora. And Roxas’s heart had been inside Sora’s before that.

“Oh, you’re right. The only time was when Sora was still asleep, right?”

“Yeah. I was in the virtual Twilight Town, and you were here, I think.”

“Mhm. On the main island. I heard your voice, and then I heard his.”

Roxas smiled again, and his eyes lingered on the sea. “This is going to sound weird, but I feel like I know you really well. It’s probably just the remnant of Sora’s memories in me. Or maybe it’s from when I met Naminé. I dunno, it’s all really confusing.”

“Compared to everything else that’s happened, that actually kind of makes sense. You and Sora are connected.”

“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to get to know you—not from Sora’s memories.”

With his face turned toward her, Kairi saw his eyes more clearly. They weren’t quite the same as Sora’s, somewhere between his sky blue and Kairi’s own deep sapphire. His irises reflected the light of the sunset, little flecks of red and orange among the blue.

She realized she was staring and looked away.

“Roxas, do you ever miss that place?”

“You mean . . . Twilight Town?” Roxas dropped his hands from behind his head. He still watched her, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“The other one. The fake one,” she rushed to add.

“Um, well. I miss my friends there. I met them in the real world, but it’s not quite the same. We know each other, but we don’t  _ know _ each other. So, yeah. I do kind of miss it.” He finally caught her gaze, his brow furrowed with concern, so much like Sora. “What’s on your mind, Kairi?”

“I just . . .” She breathed in and out, trying to gather her thoughts. Once Kairi started talking, she couldn’t stop. The words spilled from her mouth, voicing fears she hadn’t fully recognized. “When you were there, and Sora was asleep, my life was so . . . normal. I missed Sora and Riku, but it wasn’t like now. I never thought about the danger they were in. Or the danger  _ I _ was in. I miss waking up in the morning and the only thing I’d have to worry about was school. I miss not fearing for my life every moment, or wondering if this is the last time I’ll be on the island. We just got back, but what if something happens again? Sora already sacrificed himself for me. It’s my fault he’s gone, because I’m so  _ useless _ —”

An arm wrapped around her shoulder, and Kairi let go all of the tears she’d been holding in. Roxas let her cry for as long as she needed. His hug was a little more awkward than Sora’s, but no less sincere.

She wiped a hand across her face. “S-sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, Kairi. You’re not useless.” Roxas held her by the shoulders so he could speak to her directly. “Axel told us about your Keyblade training. He said you’re way better than him. And I saw you fight, too. You’re really strong. And we might not even have to fight anymore. When Sora gets back, we’ll all hang out on the beach like this! We’ll eat ice cream and watch the sunset, and I’ll beat Riku in the races.”

Kairi tried to smile but couldn’t match the enthusiasm on Roxas’s face. “If he comes back,” she said softly.

“You really think Sora’s not coming back? C’mon, it’s  _ Sora. _ Wherever he is, he’s probably made at least twenty friends by now.”

She giggled despite herself. “Twenty friends? In a day?”

“Okay, ten. Ten friends, and they’re doing karaoke in between Heartless bashing. And the reason he can’t come home yet because he’s been recruited to help overthrow their evil emperor.”

Now she couldn’t contain her laughter. An absurd guess, yet entirely possible knowing Sora.

“Roxas!” Axel called from the beach. They both turned around. “Hurry up, or we’re leaving without you!”

Kairi looked out at the water. She hadn’t realized how late it was. The sun had vanished, leaving streaks of pink and orange in the darkening sky. The first of the boats drifted toward shore, beginning the journeys to various homeworlds.

“I need to get going,” Roxas said. “Thanks for letting me talk to you.”

“Let’s do it again sometime. Will you guys be visiting the beach again?”

“Of course! We have a lot of vacation to catch up on.”

She watched him walk to the bridge. Talking to him had made the lump in her throat vanish. Her breathing came easier, light and free. Her heart still ached, but that pain had lessened, too.

“Hey, Roxas,” she called before he left. “Thanks.” 

Roxas grinned, an echo of Sora, yet entirely his own. She smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> Give me more Kairi interactions, Nomura.
> 
> Seriously, though, I'd love to see more Kairi and Roxas! I actually can't remember if they talk more than that one time in KH2.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
